Welcome, please come and browse the newsletter. In every entry you will find news from the schools as well as entries that will be staples in each edition, such as Teaching and Learning, School Committee Updates, and Good News. We hope to highlight our staff, students, and this amazing community we are all part of. There is a tremendous amount of activity in every school in Belmont, and we are proud to share it through this newsletter and the BPS website.

Whether you are a parent, a student, or a faculty member, I hope the start of the 2014/15 school year went well last week. I am glad to see our teachers and students fill the schools and bring the energy of a new school year to the town. During the first week of school I was able to feel that energy first hand as I walked to school with a few Wellington families, greeted students with Principal Richards at the high school, and visited classrooms at the Chenery. The Burbank, Butler and Winn Brook Schools were great to see in action as well. It was a busy two days for everyone and it was great to get to every school and meet teachers, students, and families.

The academic year is up and running and the routines of our work in the classrooms and district-wide are being established. From a school perspective that means teachers are communicating expectations to their students daily, that administration is preparing professional development with teachers, and Back to School Nights with our parents/guardians are scheduled and communicated.

From the Central Office view it means commencing the School Committee meeting calendar. The first School Committee Meeting takes place Tuesday, September 16, 2014 at the Chenery Middle School Community Room at 7:30 pm. As your new Superintendent I will be presenting an outline of the work plan that we have in place to guide us through the 2014-15 school year.

The school year will get busy quite quickly with meetings, events and athletic competitions at your schools, please see the calendar for the remainder of the month for your reference.

Good News Stories in Belmont Public Schools:

Good news in our Business Office

As each school year begins, the work and focus of the Belmont Schools administration and staff is to make sure the buildings are clean, the teachers have what they need and the buses are ready to get our students to and from school safely. There are many people to thank for this work each August from custodians to administrators and our administrative assistants – all of whom work year round.

There are many people to thank in our schools but one person I would like to recognize is Donna Pini who works in our business office and also is responsible for our transportation services. Donna began her employment with the Belmont Public Schools on June 21, 1989 as a Financial Clerk. In June of 1990, the secretary in the Business Office retired and Donna took over that position. She started handling the transportation for the school district as part of her duties in this new position. I appreciate Donna’s hard work, commitment to her work and our community.

Good news in our cafeterias!

It was great to see the new school lunch menu include a new look in our cafeterias this year. Food Service Director Dustin O’Brien has partnered with Belmont Acres to bring fresh and local produce to our students.

Michael Cole of BHS enjoys our first installment of “EAT LOCAL” with TOMATOES sourced from Belmont Acres. Big thanks to Mike Chase of Belmont Acres for this ongoing initiative.

I appreciate the patience of each staff person, parent, and student during this past Friday’s (9/12/14) bus delays. As you may know there was a small fire restricted to a trash can in one of the Chenery bathrooms. A student notified our staff who quickly alerted the Fire Department. I am thankful to the Chenery staff and students and the Belmont Fire Department who just days before held a fire drill and were prepared in their response. I would like to thank the Chenery staff for their thorough and professional handling this incident and thank our elementary staff, parents, and students for being patient while awaiting their bus ride home on Friday. The incident is under investigation and there was no substantial damage to the bathroom.